The homeowners threatened with eminent domain for the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, New York have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in Goldstein v. Pataki, 516 F.3d 50 (2d Cir. 2008).
The petition points out the schizophrenic nature of Public Use analysis after Kelo: on one hand, the Court’s holding…
There’s still time to sign up for the “Practical Guide to Zoning and Land Use Law” seminar, to be held Thursday, April 3, 2008, in Honolulu. I will be leading sessions on Current Case Law and Legislative Update, and Appealing an Administrative Zoning Decision. A detailed agenda and registration information are posted here.
While not exactly on the usual topics of this blog, the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in Card v. City of Everett, No. 05-35996 (Mar. 26, 2008) is worth a read. It involves the question of whether the placement of a reproduction of the Ten Commandments (the tablets, not the movie) on the grounds of Old…
In a series of decisions that in any context but eminent domain would be unsurprising, the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, held that a property owner whose land is targeted for involuntary acquisition is entitled to be told about it first.
In Harrison Redevelopment Agency v. DeRose, Nos. A-0958-06T2, A-0382-07T2 (Feb. 25, 2008)…
In Forbes, law prof Richard Epstein writes “The Taking of Port Chester” about the Didden v. Village of Port Chester case. The facts of Didden are particularly egregious — in return for a private developer’s promise to withholdan exercise of eminent domain, a landowner was offered a choice: givethe developer $800,000…
The Federalist Society has posted a new edition of Engage – The Journal of Federalist Society Practice Groups, a newsletter-format publication with short scholarly articles on topics such as Administrative Law, Environmental Law and Property Rights, and Civil Rights, among others.
The most interesting article in this edition is Property Rights in the Ninth …
Here’s the written order (1.8mb pdf) in Milo v. City of Venice, Case No. 2008 CA 552 SC (Mar. 17, 2008), the Florida case invalidating a municipality’s restrictions on short term rentals that I posted earlier. The case arose after the city’s planning director determined that the local zoning ordinance restricted short term rentals…
In a post at PrawfsBlawg, “Takings, a Second Time,” University of Chicago Law Professor Richard Epstein discusses his new book Supreme Neglect: How to Revive the Constitutional Protection for Private Property, a follow-up to Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain (1985):
There is a sneaky character of great constitutional…
Disappointing news out of the Missouri Supreme Court. In City of Arnold v. Tourkakis, No. SC88647 (Mar. 18, 2008), the court held that both chartered and non-chartered Missouri cities have the power to use eminent domain to take property for “redevelopment.” The issue in the case was whether Article VI, section 21 of the…
On April 3, 2008, I will be on the faculty of “Practical Guide to Zoning and Land Use Law” in Honolulu. I’ll be presenting two subjects, “Current Caselaw and Legislative Update,” and “Appealing an Administrative Zoning Decision. Also on the faculty are Jesse Souki and A. Bernard Bays. The complete agenda and registration information are…
